The question might have been asked thus “Can you help me out
with catching dippers for a filming session for Ray Mears’ new series?”
What was heard was “Whotcha! Want to meet Ray Mears?!”
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Vaf practising his on screen his pole
handling technique
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And so that is how it transpired that Vaf and Facey found themselves,
chanting “Ray! Ray! Ray! Ray! Ray!” on their way to meet Prof Steve O(merod) and get some BTO bling on some dippehs in
front of Ray Mears (while not pointing and not drivelling “You’re Ray Mears,
you are!”).
Mr Mears is a genuinely, genuinely, nice guy – friendly,
chatty, and down to earth. He took the time to talk to us both and even
listened to what we had to say (more than just “You’re Ray Mears, you are!”). He
clearly cares about the world around him and the fact our species is royally
screwing it up.
Steve wanted the big riparian three; dipper, kingfisher and
grey wag. Water birds are like water buses, after a long wait for nothing four
come along at once; in quick succession we missed two kingfisher, a dipper and
a grey wag.
But the Gods of Ringing did smile on their loyal disciples and
we soon caught a kingfisher. No sooner as the bird was on dry land it was a
case of “ere, Ray! Hold this!” and off our merry pair went to extract two
dippers, quickly followed by a grey wag.  |
Facey, Ray and Vaf. Mr Mears is clearly pleased to be in the
presence of the (in)famous Cardiff Ringers.
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The camera was pointed at us a good few times, thankfully as
we took ages on our hair and makeup. So you might, just might, glimpse our
overly excited grins on Ray’s (yeah first name terms) new programme to be aired
in Feb 2015. But if we end up on the cutting room floor, we’ll be pleased with
the fact that the dippers we caught made it on screen with Steve Ormerod and
Ray Mears.
If you have a film
sequence involving of ringing... if no one else can help... and if you can find
them... maybe you can hire... The Cardiff Ringers*
(Cue Facey’s car
rolling over and Vaf throwing an eco-tone pole at some trainees)
